CH 126.1

Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Ch 126 Pt. 1

Translated by gingercat

Edited by gingercat

As the sedan cars left one after another, everything that happened on Qipan Street spread throughout the Three Departments and Six Ministries.

Naturally, it also reached the ears of Emperor Hongjing.

Emperor Hongjing had just finished morning court when he heard about this. He shook his head with an inexplicable smile, which made people unable to guess his true thoughts.

Because of this incident, everyone started discussing the matter of the princes’ new positions. The one they had the most thoughts about was Jin Wang. Some said that Jin Wang was too much of a stickler for the rules. True, His Majesty had asked him to be a minor sixth-rank official, yet he actually treated himself as one. Some said that these princes weren’t easy to get along with, so it’d be best to stay as far away from them as possible. Naturally, there were also others who were willing to curry favour with those in power in the hopes that they’d be able to rise to the top.

However, such people were in the minority. Most of them were small officials from the lower ranks. None of the officials who reached the fifth rank or above were fools. At least they were well versed in the ways of human relations. Since His Majesty’s thoughts were still unclear, they weren’t in a hurry to express themselves.

The Ministry of Works was considered to be the lowest ranking among the Six Ministries. This was because the Ministry of Works wasn’t like the Ministry of Revenue, which was in charge of the money, or the Ministry of Rites, which was in charge of ceremonies and imperial examinations. To put it bluntly, the Ministry of Works was in charge of all sorts of construction and irrigation works. Dirty, disgraceful and heavy labour jobs were what the Ministry of Works was responsible for.

Scholars, farmers, labourers, then merchants. Labours were ranked third, with evident reasons.

Although there were quite a number of officials here, many of them were promoted from “labourers” to “officials.” In addition, Hong Qi, the most senior ranking official at the Ministry of Works, was a taciturn man who was only dedicated to work. This was why Jin Wang wasn’t greeted with any particular warmth or enthusiasm after entering the building.

Most of the officials were rushing about with their heads down, seeming to be very busy. Most of them would only tip their hats at him before disappearing off.

The one who came to greet Jin Wang was a small director surnamed Zhou. The instructions regarding Jin Wang came down the first day, and the post he was to take up was in the repairs department. To be more exact, this department was in charge of the building and repairing of houses.

In the repairs department, there was one Langzhong¹ and two ministry councillors. As for small directors like Jin Wang, there were four of them and Jin Wang was only one of them. There were also subsidiaries under this department. There was the barracks repair office, imperial wood factory, wood warehouse, glazed-tile kiln and so on.

The offices for the repairs department were a row of rooms located in the south end of the innermost area of the government office. Officials like the directors were assigned an office to work and rest in. Jin Wang’s office had already been prepared in advance. The room had excellent lighting conditions no matter the time of the day.

He only drew this conclusion afterwards, having seen the conditions of the other directors’ offices.

The director surnamed Zhou led Jin Wang to his office, took out some neatly bound books for him, before leaving. Jin Wang’s task today was to read these books to help him understand how the Ministry of Works operates and what it means to be a government official.

Fortunately, Jin Wang was familiar with the kind of work they do here from his experiences with governing his own fief, so this task wasn’t too difficult.

After reading several books in a row, Jin Wang stopped so his eyes could take a break. He was about to call for some tea, only to realize that he was at the Ministry of Works with no servants around him. If he wanted anything, he would need to do it himself.

He searched around his office and found teacups and tea leaves stored in a cupboard near the corner. But there was no water or stove in the room, so he could only go out to look for them. As soon as he opened the door of his office, a person walked out of from the larger office next to him. It was the director surnamed Zhou.

His name was Zhou Wu. He was also one of the four directors in the repairs department and he has been watching the movements of Jin Wang for a while. Prior to Jin Wang’s arrival, Government Minister Hong Qi instructed them, saying that there was no need to give him special treatment. They didn’t need to treat him as a prince but as an ordinary official. These were the words of His Majesty.

Despite these words, the people of the repairs department couldn’t help being a little nervous. Everyone was aware of what entering the Six Ministries meant for the princes. This was why they dared not curry favour with them under the public eye nor did they dare to offend them. The matter of how the coworkers should get along with these Highnesses became the universal question.

Zhou Wu was born with a long face and a pair of drooping eyebrows. His face looked a bit unlucky, but this person had a smooth and slick personality. As soon as he saw Jin Wang, he showed a smile that was neither too enthusiastic nor rude. He cupped his hands and said, “Is there anything Director Zhao needs help with?”

Hearing this form of address, Jin Wang was taken aback before realizing that Director Zhao was referring to him.

Only this man was bold enough to use Jin Wang’s surname directly, without any honorifics. But if one were to think about it, it couldn’t be considered inappropriate either. After all, if Jin Wang was an ordinary small official, he would indeed be addressed like that.

Zhou Wu was a man with an exquisite mind and great ambition. After learning about his task yesterday, which was to greet Jin Wang, he thought about it all night upon reaching home. To be honest, it wasn’t only last night but ever since he knew that Jin Wang was coming to the Ministry of Works, he has been planning to use this opportunity to fly to higher branches.

One needed to pay attention to strategy when currying favour. If done well, everyone would be happy; if it wasn’t done well, the other party would be annoyed. So Zhou Wu did his best to collect as much information as he could about Jin Wang’s personality and hobbies. He also gathered some news from the imperial court about the matter of the eight princes entering the officialdom.

During this period, the amount of money and effort spent was unknown. Fortunately, his efforts paid off. Not only did he come to new realizations, but he was also lucky enough to be given such a task.

Bearing these thoughts in mind, Zhou Wu stood in front of the gate of the Ministry of Work’s office early this morning. He could see Jin Wang dressed in his blue official uniform even from a distance away. Not only did he not ride a horse or come by carriage, but he had arrived on foot. Reading between the lines, he understood the meaning and that was the only reason why he dared to address Jin Wang by such a name.

He could see from Jin Wang’s reaction that he tacitly approved of this form of address. Or it may be that the other party couldn’t be bothered to care about him. All in all, Zhou Wu had taken the first step well.

Once the first step was taken, naturally, the second and third steps would come along as well. He led Jin Wang to the tea lounge and introduced him to the basic routines at the office.

The tea lounge was located in the corner of this row of rooms. It wasn’t only a tea lounge, but also a place where colleagues usually drank tea together. Coincidentally, when Jin Wang and Zhou Wu arrived, there happened to be a few officials gathered together, drinking tea and chatting. And it so happened that the topic of their discussion was the matter of the princes entering the Six Ministries.

When gossiping, men weren’t any worse than women. God knows where they heard all these rumours, yet as they talked, all the details were vividly described. Coincidentally, the subject they were talking about happened to shift to Jin Wang. Zhou Wu tried to warn them of his presence by making some seemingly accidental movements, lest they say something unpleasant and anger Jin Wang. Then he’d also be in an awkward predicament.

Seeing the handsome young man dressed in blue official robes standing next to Zhou Wu, these officials of various ages all stood up. They all had looks of ‘this official is very upright, you simply misheard’ on their faces. After hearing Zhou Wu address Jin Wang as Director Zhao, their embarrassment soon faded away. Once they finished greeting Jin Wang, they all excused themselves before hurrying away.

“These officials are simply too idle. Here, when it gets idle, everyone’s idle to the point of swatting flies. But when it gets busy, our feet barely touch the ground. Unlike the other places, there aren’t many people inside the office right now. It’s likely they are all busy outside,” said Zhou Wu with a smile.

Jin Wang only listened without speaking a word.

Inside the tea lounge, water was kept boiling and it doesn’t stop until everyone’s shifts were over. An elderly tea servant was watching over it to ensure no accidents would happen. Jin Wang made himself a cup of tea before returning to his office. Zhou Wu didn’t continue to follow him. He only reminded Jin Wang that the cafeteria would serve meals at wushi² and to not forget to come at the appointed time.